Chapter 32

KUNSAN AB, ROK The Wolfpack

Propagation tonight sucked. Don found he was having to “lip read” the radio at times. The whistles and hissing of static and occasional voices from far away interfered with the MARS morale calls normally, but tonight, it was exceptionally bad. It was a couple of weeks before Christmas ten years ago that a terrified Don Campbell asked a petrified Lanh Nguyen to dance. “Ok Kunsan, we have your number three, go ahead Lanh,” called Eric, the MARS operator at station AFC6RI the MARS station in San Diego at the Rockwell International plant.

“Good evening hawnee! Happy anniversary! Over.”

Don grinned and picked up the microphone. He was there in the MARS shack at Kunsan Air Base. He needed something to do on the weekends, something other than going downtown and drinking himself blind, so he biked over to the MARS shack and volunteered to help with the phone calls. Long distance was insanely expensive, and the internet was still dial-up, so the five-minute MARS calls were a godsend to the lonely, isolated airmen at Kunsan. Don found out that the five-minute limit was very flexible. If the call was going bad, where it sounded like more embarrassed silence than conversation, the calls were brief. If the call was good, a marriage proposal, or the sound of a newborn cooing or crying, the calls went longer. “Good morning chi yêu, how is the weather there? Over.”

“Cold and lonely, both of our dads went to a legion convention in Fargo, so Sandy, Mom, Kim-ly and I have been making sure that the wine doesn’t spoil. Over.”

Don could picture the four of them together by the Christmas tree, Kim-ly topping off glasses, Lanh sloshed to the gills, Sandy not far behind, Mai asleep in Ralph’s recliner, and Kim-ly drinking straight from the bottle. “Save some for New Year’s Eve. Over”

“Did you decide what to do on leave? Over.”

Don had a few days of “use or lose” leave, so he applied to take the time off. He plans to use it to catch up on sleep. They’ve been flying like crazy over here. “Negative, I’ll probably just study and go see a movie at the base theater. Over.”

“Good, you have a special package coming and it needs to be opened right away, copy? Over.”

“Copy, open the lefsa ASAP. Over.”

“Listen em yêu, I have to cut this short, Kim-ly needs my help, we have to go swing by Tam’s house. I love you, talk to you next week. I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words. Over.”

“How wonderful life is, ‘cause you’re in the world. I love you, over.” Don quoted their song and fought to keep the tears of loneliness from overwhelming him. With luck, he’ll be back in his room before it hits.